


Break The Walls Down

by Reis_Asher



Series: Break The Walls Down [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: After endgame, M/M, Spoilers, also that wink, deviant connor is best connor, peaceful ending, that blasted smile is getting me into trouble, yeah i might be obsessed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 09:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14870909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: After the peaceful ending, the world is still working things out. Meanwhile, Connor has gone back to business as usual, with one exception... he has no place to go at the end of the day.Luckily, our Hank has a spare bed, a dog that likes Connor and a heart of gold. Also some growing feelings which he hasn't put a name to yet.





	Break The Walls Down

Hank watched Connor go through the motions as if this was any normal day at the office and not the day after a world-changing event. As if Connor's very future as a deviant android wasn't hanging precariously by a thread and waiting for the gavel of the court of public opinion to fall. Nothing seemed off about him, though, and Hank had to give the kid credit—he kept his mind on the job far better than Hank did. He'd wandered into the break room for more than the usual amount of coffee just to hear the news updates from the television mounted up on the wall. Of course, there wasn't enough news. Most stations were hedging their bets, covering their asses in case next week androids were being rounded up again.

If only some of these assholes would meet an android like Connor, maybe they'd finally fucking get it. His smile wasn't for show. His disappointment, his fear—even before he'd become deviant, the cracks in the argument for android oppression had shown. Connor was more than a machine—more human than most humans, in fact.

Hank sighed. While his attention had been on the developing situation, he'd failed to notice the office emptying out as the weather worsened and the daylight faded. Connor left his desk and headed towards the bank of android stations on the wall. Since Markus's peaceful demonstration, the android beat cops had been granted leave pending investigation, and the wall was empty. Connor stood in one of the slots and closed his eyes, and Hank realized with a sinking feeling that Connor was planning on spending the night in this lifeless, soulless office.

He had nowhere to go, after all. It wasn't like he could return to Cyberlife after he'd freed all the androids. Besides, they'd used him and chewed him up like he was nothing to them. They'd even tried to use a program to eliminate his deviancy and have him shoot Markus. No, Hank was glad he wasn't headed there. But sleeping at the station? Gavin would make sure he woke up with marker all over his face, at the very least. It wasn't right that Connor had to sleep behind glass like a dog at a shelter.

Hank walked over to Connor and gently placed his hand on Connor's shoulder. Connor jerked back to awareness.

"Can I help you, Lieutenant? I was under the impression that we were finished for the day. If you have any work you need me to do, I'd be happy to complete it."

"You're not planning on spending the night here, are you? I mean, seriously? You're just gonna go into standby and go about things like nothing's changed out there?" Hank sighed.

"It is more than adequate for my needs, and allows me to be ready at a moment's notice if I am needed."

Hank wanted to punch the wall, but he held his outburst in with great effort. Perhaps going back to cold android Connor was how he was coping with the situation at hand, but it hurt Hank to see him take a step back. Where was the Connor who'd smiled at him, winked, who told him he ate too much cholesterol and warned him about his friends? Had Cyberlife killed him and sent a replacement after all? The thought made him shiver inside, fear coiling through his veins like ice.

"Damn it, Connor. You and I both know you have nowhere else to go, and I won't allow you to stay here like a prisoner in lockup. It's wrong."

Connor smiled, and the pretzel of terror that Hank's colon had formed into unknotted. "I appreciate your concern, Hank."

Hank. He'd called him Hank. Yeah, this was his Connor. He almost blushed at the wrongness of the possessive thought. He didn't own Connor, but Connor was his responsibility more than anyone else's. Connor was his partner. His friend.

"I have an extra bed," Hank blurted out. "I know, you don't sleep, but it's a place to stay. Sumo likes you. We'd be in the same place if we needed to work on a case together." _And maybe, just maybe, you can stop me from considering drunken Russian Roulette,_ Hank thought, but that wasn't something he was going to say out loud at the office. Only Connor had seen that dark, private side of him and he planned to keep it that way.

The look on Connor's face made Hank's day. That smile. When had it stopped seeming like an act and become the brightest spot in Hank's world? Was it after Connor had saved him on the roof? When he'd spared the Tracis? When he'd walked away from Kamski's sick game? He wasn't sure he knew, but Connor had changed him somehow, his enthusiasm and light acting like a virus that Hank didn't want the cure for.

Which made this whole moving in together thing a bad fucking idea, but he'd had worse ones, and he couldn't bring himself to care about future consequences when he could see welling tears in Connor's deep brown eyes _right now_.

"It's very kind of you to offer," Connor said.

Oh, he was going to refuse after all. Hank sensed the kicker coming from a mile away, like the faint sensation of a headache warning him of the morning after before he'd even started drinking.

"I couldn't possibly impose on your hospitality. I am not currently in the possession of any material goods or services that I could exchange for your kindness. I would be living sorely on your charity," Connor explained.

"What, do I smell or something? Geez, try to do a guy a favor…" Hank deflected, trying to stave off the sudden squeeze of his heart constricting in his chest. "I don't want anything in return, Connor. Your friendship is enough for me." Hank turned around to walk away from this embarrassing and uncomfortable conversation before word of it spread around the office, but Connor grabbed him by the wrist and held him in a firm grip.

"You certainly do not smell unpleasant, Lieutenant. However, us living together may start some… rumors, given recent events. I have no desire to make your life here at the office any more uncomfortable than my presence has already made it."

"What, you got something against two guys livin' together?" Fuck, that had come out all wrong. "And who said you made me uncomfortable?"

"The romantic and sexual orientation of other individuals is none of my business, same with their living situation. As for feeling uncomfortable, you did slam me up against the wall of your cubicle."

"OK, OK, so maybe we got off to a rough start, but I'm proud to have you as my partner, Connor, and anyone who wants to say otherwise, or start rumors, or any of that other crap can go to hell." Hank sighed. He'd fucked up their relationship from day one, and it was only by a miracle (and Connor's persistent nature) that they'd become friends at all. Connor had dismantled all the walls he'd built around his heart, tearing them down one by one with his curious nature and kindly attitude. He was not going to let Connor sleep at the police station, and that was that. "It's just… you're free now, and every free person should have a home. You shouldn't have to live in a glass pod like a piece of merchandise. I won't take no for an answer, so just give up already, goddammit."

"I suppose I could repay the favor by composing a diet plan, a sleeping schedule, and by keeping your home in a sanitary condition," Connor said. Hank was about to snap _I'm not asking you to be my android slave_ when Connor winked. The fucking wink he'd given at the food stand.

Connor had been fucking pulling his leg this entire time. He'd stopped arguing a while ago, and Hank had been too blind to see it until now. Hank caught his reflection in the glass and noticed he was beet red from pressing his point. He looked back at Connor and chuckled. "You got me."

"It was fun seeing you get worked up, Hank," Connor admitted, stepping out of the pod and putting his arm around Hank's shoulders. "I am grateful, however. Going into standby mode here would have been… lonely. It will be pleasant to have some company in the evenings and a place to call home."

Home. Hank felt another wall crumble between them. His house hadn't been more than just a place to sleep in a very long time. Not since Cole had died. Now, with Connor's smile lighting up the dark evenings and his optimism warming the hearth as it snowed outside, it might become home once again.


End file.
